The Journey of Gollum the Great
by Camel in the Arctic
Summary: Frodo has just thrown Gollum off of the precipice in Shelob's Lair. this is what Gollum does next.


Gollum flung Frodo against a rock and prepared to pounce again but his master's anger seemed to fuel a furious strength and the hobbit threw himself at Gollum, catching him off guard and sending them both tumbling to the floor.  
Surprised by the angry Frodo, Gollum failed to throw the hobbit off and he suddenly felt his master's trembling hands wrap around his thin neck and despite his struggles he could not free himself from the iron grip.  
Gollum was out of options, he was not prepared to die at the hands of this thief; it was time to try another tact. He burst into a wave of pathetic sobs and cried, "It wasn't us. It wasn't us!"  
It worked, the hobbits hands faltered and the grip loosened a little but they were still too tight for escape... "Sméagol wouldn't hurt master." he choked between his sobs, "We promised..."  
Gollum smirked inside, Frodo's grip was slackening the job was almost done, he had better finish it off however... "You must believe us... It was the Precious... The Precious made us do it." Gollum finally won, Frodo let go of him completely and fell backwards panting, Gollum rested his head and recovered his breath, it was foolish of him to trust this to the spider, She couldn't do anything right, all She thought about was food, if you wanted something done had do it yourself...Gollum tensed, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting hobbit but Frodo suddenly spoke, "I have to destroy it, Sméagol. I have to destroy it for both our sakes."  
A rapid wave of anger swept through Gollum, 'Stupid hobbit speaks of destroying the Precious! We cannot let him, we must have it, it's ours and we wants it back!' "NOOOO!" cried Gollum aloud and leapt at Frodo, who had begun to walk away, again the two hobbits tumbled to the ground but Frodo twisted around and threw Gollum off him and sent him plummeting down a precipice...  
  
Gollum opened his eyes; he was still alive, the drop hadn't been as steep as it had seemed and he had slid down most of it. Getting up, Gollum looked around, it was dark but he could see quite clearly; there were huge cobwebs everywhere...Gollum hissed, he was back inside the spider's lair, She wasn't here though, which was most probably for the best, thought Gollum, it was doubtless that She would be angry at the escape of her latest meal and it would be hard to convince her not to eat him again...  
Gollum looked around again, he had been here before and he knew the way out it meant going close to the tower but it was the only way out of the catacombs. Slowly he began to crawl away through the tunnels, the fall had hurt his leg but he didn't feel the pain, his only thoughts were bent towards the Ring and his thieving master who had it.  
After two hours of crawling along the labyrinth-like tunnels, Gollum stopped and sniffed, he smelt blood... it was too distant to work out who's it was but it intrigued the creature and lured him away from his mission.  
He wandered through a clearing and the smell of blood strengthened, blots of it splattered the trodden ground; it was thick and green and Gollum soon recognised it as the blood of Shelob the spider, but he was surprised; for hundreds and hundreds of years no creature, Man, Elf, Dwarf or orc had ever harmed her but now her foul blood stained the ground.  
Gollum looked up, there was a battered set of stairs that led up to the tower, this was his way but at the moment his interests were not with Frodo but with Shelob, he cautiously followed the splatters of blood into the entrance of another tunnel and disappeared into the darkness.  
After another hour Gollum came to a wide cavern, the floor was wet with more of the blood but as he crept forward bones crunched under his feet, huge black cobwebs hung from the ceiling like drapes...  
A low, hissing moan came from the far side of the cavern, Gollum halted, he was in the Shelob's nest, but from the sound of the moaning She was in no state to attack him, he continued guardedly.  
Sure enough, at the back of the cave, on a mountain of bones and web the bulk of the great spider lay, more of the green blood trickled from her huge belly onto the floor. Gollum sniggered from the shadows and Shelob shifted, ready to attack but she fell back with a hissing cry. "Poor, spidey. Did the orcses finally gets you?" Gollum teased. Shelob hissed dangerously but made no attempt to attack Gollum, instead she clicked her mighty claws as though talking. "Oh, you were attacked by a hobbit? Master could not do it though; lost his horrible elvish sword he did..." answered Gollum able to understand the giant spider. More clicking... "Oh no...not that stupid, fat hobbit? He knew what we were doing from the start, why does he not leave? We hates him!" Gollum seethed. Shelob clicked again, but it seemed to be causing her great pain. Gollum laughed nastily, "You wants us to find you some food? No, no you stay here and rot. You are finished, we don't needs you anymore!" Shelob roared angrily and leapt up; Gollum shrank back into the shadows, the spider had tricked him, all she wanted was for him to find her so she could feed, all she ever thought about was food...  
Gollum dodged the spider nimbly as she pounced at him; he hadn't expected this...she was meant to be hurt, that stupid, fat hobbit was good for nothing. Gollum leapt again as one of Shelob's legs swept over his head, but he had not moved quickly enough and another long leg flicked him up into the air. With a crunch Gollum landed in a pile of bones and laid still, he was badly hurt and now of all times the vision of the Ring swam back into his mind. He had been a fool to leave it so long and he wasn't going to end up as food because of his foolishness...  
The thought of the Ring sharpened his senses, it was like a medicine, a drug...Quickly Gollum scanned the cavern and found what he was looking for, it was not hard to find, the remains of some long-dead man sat on a pile of bones and armour, who knows who he was, perhaps the doughtiest man of Gondor? Gollum had no time for the dead however, his self-preservation kicked in. Sticking up next to the dead warrior was a spear, the shaft pitted and rusted but still sharp. Scrabbling across the bones Gollum made his way towards this defence and dived under the spear shaft head in hands just as Shelob dived at him...  
There was a terrible shriek and Gollum looked up between his fingers, the spider was above him, impaled on the long spear, more of the thick, green blood was oozing from the fresh wound. Gollum hurried out from beneath her heaving bulk and looked up at the spider's face, her eyes were dimming and her legs had stopped their thrashing.  
Gollum laughed spitefully, "Bye-bye, spidey. "and he was gone into the shadows...  
Finally Gollum came back to the clearing where Sam had wounded Shelob the Great. Without stopping for breath Gollum raced up the steps towards the tower spurred on by anger, his unfinished business with spider long behind him, he was now ready to retrieve his precious... from the very hands of the Dark Lord if needs be... 


End file.
